Page 20 of Our Violent Ends
Juliette pursed her lips further and sank into her seat. By the time they were easing down Avenue Edward VII in the thick of the city, Lord Cai’s driving had grown more erratic, starting and stopping when people walked onto the road with none of the smoothness of their chauffeurs. Just when Juliette thought they were close to running over an elderly woman, her father pulled into a wide alleyway and parked, reaching into the back seat for his hat.
“Come on, Juliette,” he chided, already climbing out.
Juliette followed slowly. She took in the alleyway, still trying to gauge the situation as she rubbed her hands together to keep them warm. There was one door here, the back entrance of what Juliette would guess to be a restaurant, if the noise coming from inside was any indication. Lord Cai called for her again. Juliette hurried over just as the door opened and the serving boy silently gestured for them to enter.
“If we’re here to eat food that Mama hates, you only had to say so,” she whispered.
“Quiet.”
The serving boy led them through the back corridors of the restaurant, bypassing the rumble of the kitchen. Juliette had been jesting about eating a meal, but she still frowned when they also walked past the doors into the main restaurant without a second glance. Had her father booked a private room? For just the two of them? Maybe Juliette shouldn’t have joked about a revolutionary execution after all.
Don’t be ridiculous,she told herself.
The serving boy turned a corner and stopped in front of a nondescript door. Everything was dim and damp back here, looking like it hadn’t been cleaned in years, never mind used to serve customers.
“If you need anything, I’ll be outside.” The serving boy opened the door.
Lord Cai walked in promptly, Juliette close on his heels. A part of her had already decided that this was going to be a quaint teaching lesson. Perhaps a sparse meal laid out to show how quickly they could lose everything they had.
The last thing she had expected to find inside the room, seated at a round table, was Lord Montagov and Roma.
Juliette’s eyes bugged, her hand fumbling at her sleeve for a weapon, more out of shock and automatic instinct than any real preparation for a fight. While she clutched at air, however, Roma bolted to his feet and actually drew his pistol, ready to shoot.
Until his father said, “Hold on, boy.”
Roma blinked, his arm receding back an inch. The gray light streaming in from the filmy windows gave him an eerie appearance, or perhaps that was just him now, his mouth an angry slash, his jaw tight enough to resemble stone. “What—”
“I sent an invitation to meet,” Lord Montagov said. Then he switched from Russian to Chinese. “Sit, Roma.”
Slowly, Roma sat.
“Bàba,” Juliette hissed. “What isthe meaning of this?”
“Sit, Juliette,” Lord Cai simply echoed. When Juliette didn’t move, he closed a hand over her elbow and gently guided her to the table, leaning close to his daughter and whispering, “The perimeter is secure. It is not an ambush.”
“If it were, it is not like they would declare it,” Juliette whispered back. She plopped ungraciously into a seat, resting only half her thigh so she could leap up at a moment’s notice.
“Yes, you mustn’t worry, Miss Cai,” Lord Montagov declared. “There are only so many times you can ambush someone before they come to expect it.”
Juliette felt her chest go cold. Lord Montagov, meanwhile, was smiling, and the sight itself would have been terrible enough, but it was rendered even more abhorrent because... it looked so much like Roma’s smile.
How dare he.
“You—”
Juliette lunged over the table, knife out, but Roma was quicker. His pistol pressed into her forehead, and Juliette froze, her breath escaping in a quick sound through her clenched teeth.
When Juliette dared meet Roma’s eyes, she found only loathing. It shouldn’t have hurt so badly when this was her fault. The image was only right, only fitting. Who else would he hold a gun to but his enemy? Who else should he defend save his own father?
It shouldn’t have hurt so badly, and yet it did.
I did this,Juliette thought numbly.You told me you would choose me above all else, and then I did this to us.
She had put him back on the side of his own father, who had caused Nurse’s death, who had threatened to killhimif Roma couldn’t killher. It almost didn’t seem worth it. Almost, almost—but Juliette was making the exact same choice Roma had. At least he would be alive, whatever the consequences she had to swallow.
“Juliette,” Lord Cai warned again, though his command was soft. “Knife away, please.”
With her teeth gritted even harder, Juliette pushed the blade back into her sleeve. Roma, in courteous response, set the pistol down on the table within reaching distance.
